Life Without Wires

Everyone consumes their audio in different ways. Some prefer it by blasting their face off with loud music, some discreetly with in-ear earphones, and some flaunt off their latest colourful headphones. However, in recent years, we have seen more competition from in-ear earphones, especially with the meteoric rise of wireless devices. Sony is not new to the music industry, and has been revolutionary with their products over the years. This time, they boldly introduce a new product within their wireless genre, the WF-1000X, a pair of wireless earbuds with Noise cancelling capabilities.

The WF-1000X at first glance when unboxing gives off a unique look that screams wireless and its transparent design on parts of the earbud to attract the eye. In fact, we got our hands on a Gold variant that is definitely a looker. Under the earbuds, you are also presented with a case that allows you to charge your earbuds. Upon closer inspection, you will realise that there are no USB ports or anything of the like on the earbuds themselves, and the only way to charge it is via the charging case, which is in turned charged using a micro USB cable. You are also given a few extra tips to use on your earbuds, which you can choose based on your preference. But for the best audio insulation and overall safety, it is best to find one that fits snugly in your ear. Simply slip them into your ears, and twist them a little to secure a fit – voilà, you are done.

To turn on the earbuds, simply click and hold the button on the earbuds. Pair it to your intended device and you are good to go. These are capable of delivering fair soundstage along with crisp vocals, but it does fall slightly below when it comes to bass. By tapping the button on the left earbud when it is on, you toggle between ambient sound, noise cancelling or off, giving you choices for the amount of noise you wish to pay attention to.

However, in comes the trouble after a short test. Unfortunately, we experienced multiple audio drop-outs on the right earbud. With the left earbud (Master), we have not encountered this issue at all, and it maintained stable connection throughout our testing. The audio has to go through the master before it gets passed to the right earbud (Slave). If you are using it with a smartphone, you can download the ‘‘Headphones Connect” app that allows you to switch from ‘‘Priority on sound quality” to ‘‘Priority on stable connection”. This helps slightly, but drop-outs on the right earbuds remained. We also found that sometimes when you place your hands over the earbuds, the music cuts out as well. But we also managed to find a quick fix to this: Simply disconnect and unpair the earbuds from your device and go through the pairing process once again.

Overall, it is a decent attempt at a pair of wireless noise cancelling earphones with good sound quality, but falls slightly short with random disconnecting issues.

CHIP CONCLUDE: A decent first try for a wireless earbud that’s capable of outputting great quality audio, but will require a fix for the random audio drops if they want to contend with Apple’s Airpods.